What Do You Want To Read For February's Crime Book Club?

We are meeting next Wednesday 21st January for the first crime book club meeting of the year so we need to choose what we want to read next.

Last year we had an Australian themed month as one of our regular attendees is Australian. So as one of our other regular attendees is in France, I thought we would have a French themed month now, so below are the choices.

To vote, either leave a comment here or on the Facebook page or on Twitter using the hashtag #crimebookclub.

The Chalk Circle Man by Fred Vargas

Jean-Baptiste Adamsberg is not like other policemen. His methods appear unorthodox in the extreme: he doesn’t search for clues; he ignores obvious suspects and arrests people with cast-iron alibis; he appears permanently distracted. In spite of all this his colleagues are forced to admit that he is a born cop.

When strange blue chalk circles start appearing overnight on the pavements of Paris, only Adamsberg takes them – and the increasingly bizarre objects found within them – seriously. And when the body of a woman with her throat savagely cut is found in one, only Adamsberg realises that other murders will soon follow.

Named France’s Best Thriller of 1997, Death from the Woods is one of the most acclaimed suspense novels to hit the publishing world in years. In a suburb of Paris, a series of grisly murders has left residents shaken. A little girl says she knows who the killer is, but she has confided in only one person: Elise Andrioli, a blind, mute quadriplegic. She’s defenseless and helpless. And she may very well be the next target.

It’s the middle of a long hot summer on the French Mediterranean shore and the town is teeming with tourists. Sebag and Molino, two tired cops who are being slowly devoured by dull routine and family worries, deal with the day’s misdemeanors and petty complaints at the Perpignan police headquarters. But then a young Dutch woman is found murdered on a beach at Argelès, and another disappears without a trace in the alleys of the city. Is it a serial killer obsessed with Dutch women? Maybe. The media senses fresh meat and moves in for the feeding frenzy.
Out of the blue, Inspector Gilles Sebag finds himself thrust into the middle of a diabolical game. In order to focus on the matter at hand, he will have to put aside his cares, forget his suspicions about his wife’s unfaithfulness, ignore his heart murmur, and get over his existential angst. But there is more to this case than anyone suspects.

I look forward to seeing you next week to discuss The Girl on the Stairs by Louise Welsh

Awww, you shouldn’t have, just for me… But all three are excellent choices. Brigitte Aubert gives us such an unusual protagonist, while the Summertime/Cats is very atmospheric. But I too vote for Vargas, always, forever – would LOVE to hear what others think of her. It’s been a while since I read Chalk Circle Man, so may have to reread – hurrah!